Uruguay's band of veterans are the perfect complement to world-class duo of Luis Suárez and Edinson Cavani

Uruguay are not simply reliant on Luis Suárez and Edinson Cavani, they have a
key band of veterans eager to prove they still have what it takes to perform
on big stage

Still going strong: Diego Forlan will be 35 when the World Cup kicks off but wants to prove he still has life left in his shooting bootsPhoto: GETTY IMAGES

By Sam Kelly, World Cup Nation: Uruguay

1:00PM GMT 07 Jan 2014

Key though Liverpool's Luis Suárez and PSG's Edinson Cavani are to their hopes, Uruguay are a well-rounded team and boast a number of players well-known to observers in Europe. What, though, of those who ply their trade on their home continent?

Diego Forlán – Uruguay's record appearance holder – will be most familiar to British readers. Forlán, 35 in May, is best known in England for his sorry spell with Manchester United, but Golden Boot-winning exploits in 2004-05 (for Villarreal) and 2008-09 (for Atlético de Madrid) made his true talent clear.

Forlán is from a proud footballing lineage; his grandfather managed Uruguay to the 1959 and 1967 South American Championships (now the Copa América, which Forlán himself played a key part in winning in 2011), and included Forlán's father, Pablo, in the team for that 1967 victory.

Forlán is not the only veteran. Andrés Scotti, at 38 years-old, has played for ten clubs, but only Rubin Kazan outside America. Sebastián Eguren, 32, played for clubs in Norway, Sweden and Spain as well as spells in Paraguay and Brazil.

Nicolás Lodeiro is a frustrating case. The talented playmaker was one of the great new hopes of Uruguayan football before the last World Cup but was sent off just 15 minutes after coming on during the 0-0 group stage draw with France.

Since then his career has not taken off as he would have hoped. He won a Dutch Cup and two league titles with Ajax (initially alongside Suárez), but did not move to one of Europe's 'bigger' leagues. He now plays for Botafogo in Brazil. He is still only 24 and is now established for Uruguay, he might hope that good performances lead to another crack to a spell in Europe.

Aiming to establish himself as first-choice goalkeeper, following the hand injury which kept Fernando Muslera out of the play-off against Jordan, is Martín Silva.

The 30 year-old spent nine years with boyhood club Defensor Sporting before a 2011 move to Paraguay's Olimpia, whom he helped to the final of last year's Copa Libertadores, South America's club championship.

Silva was effectively named the continent's Goalkeeper of The Year in 2013 (although there's no individual award for that title). He was voted into the Team of The Year in Uruguayan newspaper El País' annual poll of journalists which crowns the Player, Manager and Team of The Year.

Others are likely to play back-up rolls, but as we enter 2014 and new championships kick-off across South America, others will hope to push their way into Óscar Wáshington Tabárez's reckoning – whether they've got experience in the world's more visible leagues or not.